The 2018 action thriller "The Meg", starring Jason Statham, has made its way to HBO Max streaming. The film is worth revisiting because it successfully sidesteps the impossible task of competing with the original "Jaws" by embracing its own over-the-top absurdity rather than taking itself too seriously as a shark movie.

Statham plays Jonas Taylor, a rescue diver who emerges from self-imposed isolation to save his ex-wife from an underwater laboratory in the Mariana Trench. The rescue inadvertently releases a prehistoric 75-foot megalodon into the ocean, forcing Jonas and the research facility crew to hunt down the colossal creature. Statham delivers a subtly comedic performance, modulating his trademark action-hero intensity for the film's fun, rollicking tone, whilst the film's sequel, "Meg 2: The Trench", is also available on the streaming platform and escalates the chaos even further.